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How to Section Citrus

A great way to prepare citrus for garnishing dishes or for a simple fruit salad.

Sectioning a citrus fruit is also known as making suprémes. When you have finished sectioning a citrus fruit, you have removed the tough and bitter segments from the citrus and you have extracted all of the fruit's luscious juices.

1. Remove both the top and bottom from the citrus.

2. Position a standard, sharp kitchen knife just to the inside of the orange rind, where the flesh meets the skin. It is important to cut off as much of the bitter-tasting white colored flesh (called pith ) as possible. You do not want to allow any of the white pith to stay on the flesh, but you also do not want to cut away too much of the flesh itself.

3. Slice down, following the curve of the citrus to remove as much pith as possible while maintaining the round shape of the citrus.

4. Clean off any pith that you see attached to the outside of the citrus.

5. Remove the strings of white pith from the inside of the citrus by inserting a knife just on the inside of a pith line. Cut into the citrus, following the line of pith almost halfway through the citrus.

6. Then, find the line of pith that is holding the slice you are working with secure to the citrus. Being careful not to slice through the pith itself, cut inside that line of pith and remove a pith-free triangular piece of fruit.

7. Continue this process of removing slices of pith-free citrus from the fruit until there is no more fruit to cut. Peel back and hold each pith flap out of your way as you go.

8. When you are done removing slices of citrus, squeeze the juices from the pith into a bowl with suprémes.

Are these the Orange slices supremes Chef John talked about in video for Seared Scallops w/ Jalapeno Vinaigrette? I would love to see a video demonstration of cutting them!
"Git right on it" Chef John!